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I originally learned the technique at the New York Academy of Art. I currently study at the National Academy where my instructor lets me do grisaille from time to time.

Unfortunately I'm not part of an atelier course like Grand Central Academy or Janus. These schools are far more rigorous in terms of classical training but also require full time attendance which isn't possible for me right now.

Once again fantastic work. Can you tell me more about the New York Academy of art? You said it wasn't a full time atelier but a part time thing. I'm hoping to find something similar in a night school in London.

Once again fantastic work. Can you tell me more about the New York Academy of art? You said it wasn't a full time atelier but a part time thing. I'm hoping to find something similar in a night school in London.

Thank you Amrit. I wasn't a full time student at the New York Academy. I was only taking weekend classes with an instructor who was an alumnus of the school so his methods were identical to the full time program. We learned Bargue drawing, cast drawing, figure drawing, grisaille, and color studies before attempting painting in color. I only got to the final stage once but wasn't able to finish:

We actually worked on paintings and drawings over a few months, i.e. six hours of class instruction every Saturday for 10-12 weeks.

You can definitely learn from books, but I think you learn more quickly in class with a trained instructor. Bear in mind though that one of the quirks of ateliers is that you spend a lot of time just watching the teacher do demos, which can be frustrating if you're looking for uninterrupted drawing or painting time. It eventually became a cost/benefit issue for me, which is why I gave it up after two years and returned to the less rigid National Academy.

The best part of painting is enjoying the process of doing it like mixing the colors, doing the brush strokes and pretty much everything. I can see that you enjoyed painting this. Keep up the good work!